Parks & Recreation Commission

LACONIA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING Monday, June 20, 2022 Laconia Community Center 6:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Commissioner Mitch Hamel called the meeting to order at the above date and time. RECORDING SECRETARY: Secretary Liza Kelleher recorded this meeting. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Hamel called the roll with the following Commissioners in attendance: Laura Ringer, Deanna Guyer and Arthur Kirk. Absent- Rodney Roy. PARKS AND RECREATION STAFF PRESENT: Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek, Asst Director of Recreation & Facilities Matthew Mansur and Secretary Liza Kelleher. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 1. Regular meeting minutes of May 16, 2022 Commissioner Guyer moved to adopt the minutes from the May 16, 2022, meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. I. FACILITY USE REQUEST FORM: A. Evangelical Baptist Church- Opechee Point- Saturday August 13, 2022, from 10:00am to 4:00pm for Church picnic and Baptism. Commissioner Kirk motioned to withdraw the request from the table. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. B. Cure SMA- Opechee Park -Saturday, October 29, 2022, from 7:00am to 2:00pm for 2022 New Hampshire Walk-n-Roll. Commissioner Kirk motioned to table the request due to no representation. Commissioner Ringer seconded. All were in favor. C. Navigating Recovery of the Lakes Region- Rotary Park- Wednesday, August 31, 2022, from 4:00pm to 8:00pm for International Overdose Awareness Day vigil. Commissioner Ringer motioned to accept the request and waived the fee for the event. Seconded by Commissioner Guyer. All were in favor. D. Lakes Region Vineyard Church- Opechee Point- Sunday, August 14, 2022 (rain date- August 21st from 12:00pm to 6:00pm for Annual church picnic & water baptism. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of $50.00 picnic fee and waived the no cooking and the use of propane gas for the annual picnic and water baptism event. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. E. City of Laconia- Opechee Cove- Wednesday, June 29, 2022, from 9:00am to 2:00pm for employee luncheon day. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request and waived the no cooking and use of propane gas for the City’s picnic event. Seconded by Commissioner Ringer. All were in favor. F. Weirs Action Committee- Weirs Amphitheater-Sundays, July 10 through August 7, 2022, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm and August 14, 2022, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm for Weirs Jazz  Series. Commissioners unanimously approved to have this request administratively approved by the Director. G. Lakes Region Community Services- Leavitt Park field- Thursday, June 23, 2022, from 10:00am to 2:00pm for the staff works luncheon. Commissioner Guyer motioned to accept the request pending upon the payment of $50.00 picnic fee and the key deposit of $25.00 per key if required. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. II. OLD BUSINESS: III. ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVALS-ROTARY PARK, BEACHES, WEIRS AMPHITHEATER & PAVILION 1. Ashley Defosses- Weirs Pavilion and Bathroom- Saturday, July 9, 2022, from 11:00am to 4:00pm for a kid’s birthday party. 2. Gilford School District- Robbie Mills- Thursday, June 2, 2022, from 2:30 to 6:30pm. IV. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Possible increase in users’ fees. It was discussed, making the User Fee Schedule more user friendly. The Commission would like to add a few new details to the schedule for easier usage so there will be no guessing of where the event falls under. Director Lovisek will present a new draft users fee schedule at the next Commission meeting. V. ANNOUNCEMENTS: VI. NOMINATIONS, APPOINTMENTS & ELECTIONS: VII. PUBLIC COMMENT: VIII. COMMUNICATIONS: IX. OTHER REQUESTS REQUIRING COMMISSION ACTION: X. PARK ASSOCIATION REPORTS: A. Leavitt Park Association- June minutes of the meeting. B. Weirs Community Park Association- No report C. Tardif Park Association- No report XI. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: A. Director’s Report submitted by Amy Lovisek Our department had our budget presentation to the council last week. It is about an 18% increase from last year including the capital improvements. This is a huge step forward for the department if the council passes the manager’s recommendations. Thank you, Matt, for all your work on the presentation. The downtown tree project was quite an interesting project. We did have a few snags during the process but powered through. We now have 16 new trees and 2 new shrubs in the Main Street corridor and the other areas are all capped with concrete to match the existing sidewalks. We are awaiting the capping of the sidewalks on the Pleasant Street side. The Opechee roof project was awarded to JB Roofing. I have chosen and Ivy Green as the color and that project should be starting as soon as the material arrives. The Laconia Skate “Board” has the lighting coming in very soon. I will be meeting with them next week to discuss details and fine tuning the installation process. The LHS class of ’83 is looking to donate a tree garden at Memorial Park in the empty section behind the tennis/softball field. They want to do some fruit trees and will maintain them with a garden. We have some trees coming down next month at Wyatt, Opechee and Leavitt Parks. FYI The city has a mason now on retainer. The company is Ridgestone and they will be making a ramp at Weirs Beach so we can put a beach mat for water access for ADA. I had a meeting with Officer Eric Adams and the owners of Café Isaiah 61. We met regarding the excessive use by the homeless of the parks. We discussed different ways to keep them from sleeping in the parks and keeping them cleaned. We didn’t finish the conversation, but I will keep you updated as this progresses. I attended the job fair at the Laconia High School this past month trying to get applicants for our vacant positions. We have more vacancies now than we did at that time. People are leaving us after accepting the jobs. We don’t know why. This is causing a strain on our department in a large way. Please send us anyone you know who needs a job!! Tim our foreman is back to work on a part-time basis for 3 hours per day now. However, those 3 hours are to be used as a supervisory role rather than the working foreman. Currently, he is trying to get his feet wet again after being away. He is catching up though. We are hopeful he comes back soon and takes some of this pressure off the department. I will keep you updated on this for sure. Dane is back as is Matt and we couldn’t be more pleased to have them back with us. B. Assistant Director’s Report submitted by Matt Mansur Summer Preparations Beaches With regards to staffing, we had a swing in the right direction in May, but it has swung back with a vengeance. Since our last commission meeting, I have lost 5 anticipated staff. We will begin the season paper-thin across the department. I began developing Plan E today which involves me working at Weirs throughout the summer – this is certainly not ideal. The applications and interviews we are getting at this point are coming with conditions and limitations that continue to stretch us. I am not optimistic for this upcoming pivotal summer – particularly at Weirs Beach. For good news, the Huot has finished our new LG chairs which will be used immediately at Bond and Opechee Point (for summer camp). We have also awarded a bid to a contractor to replace our Gazebo at Weirs Beach. This will be good steps forward in beautifying the Weirs while increasing the practical use of its facilities. Finally, we are still finnicking with the swim lines at a few of our beaches. The problems don’t require complicated solutions, but they do require significant time. Opechee Day Camp We are full here. We are still working on some staffing issues in order to provide the best camp experience. No update on trips yet. Community Center Programs Morning Activities Pickleball in the Community Center is few and far between, but those who have taken advantage of it have enjoyed it and we have had no issues. Line dancing is also a welcomed sight, and our group seems to be enjoying it. We have not found a solution to our shades yet. Budget Presentation It seemed like our presentation was well received by the City Council. We talked about past years and this upcoming Fiscal Yeah, but we also brought up what the future of Laconia Parks & Rec will look like. Especially with a commitment to investing in its future. A conversation that might be fun for this group to have at some point. XII. PRESENTATIONS XIII. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Guyer motioned to adjourn at 6:51pm. Seconded by Commissioner Kirk. All were in favor. Respectfully submitted, Liza Kelleher Mitch Hamel Secretary Chair Commissioner